Department Policy
by mascaret
Summary: "Walk with me, Andy!" Not waiting for a response, an irate Taylor kept moving. Provenza and Andy exchanged a worried look. "What did you do now?" Provenza asked.
1. Chapter 1-4

A/N Written before season 3 aired based off of rumors of season 3. I think it still works.

Regulations

"_Andy!"_

The sharpness of Taylor's tone caught Flynn's attention. Since his promotion Taylor seemed to have settled into his own. Though still a jackass at times, he no longer seemed to spend time trying to be an ass just for the sake of being an ass.

"Walk with me, Andy!" Not waiting for a response, an irate Taylor kept moving.

Provenza and Andy exchanged a worried look.

"What did you do now?" Provenza asked.

Shrugging, genuinely unsure, Andy put on his jacket and headed for the door.

Taylor didn't even turn in acknowledgment as Flynn caught up. He just started talking. Taylor sounded irritated – more so than usual.

"We never hang out like we used to. We never go out for a drink after a hard case or grab dinner together. We never talk. Why is that, Andy?"

Not knowing where Taylor was going with this – or even where it was they were walking to - Flynn refrained from reminding him that relations between them had cooled considerably after Taylor had failed to back Flynn up in the Croelick case.

"I _know_ its not because I'm your boss because you _certainly_ don't seem to be letting that hold you back with the Captain."

Flynn stopped in his tracks.


	2. Chapter 2-4

_Chapter 2_

"Did Gabriel and Daniels teach us nothing?!" Taylor asked rhetorically.

Flynn's eyes widened in surprise. "Gabriel and Daniels?!"

"These work place romances – they _never_ work out."

"Shar – " Too late, Andy corrected himself. "-The Captain and I aren't dating."

"_Not ever."_ Taylor clarified unnecessarily.

"We're not dating. We're friends."

"Gabriel & Daniels. Brenda & the Ch-"

Andy interrupted him. "-Sharon and I are _just _friends. We have dinner together. We talk. Occasionally we go see a movie or a show. We're _just_ friends."

To Taylor's look of disbelief, Andy insisted. "Hey, I haven't done anything with the Captain that I haven't done a hundred times with Provenza."

With that admission Taylor's expression changed from disbelief to disgust.

"We are -" As Andy again began his refrain, Taylor raised a single finger to silence him.

Taylor's tone started off friendly, but it didn't end that way. "Andy, you may have been with this division longer than Raydor, but you need to understand that when things go south – and they_ will _go south – they _always_ go south - you are going to be the one out on his ass. I will bust you down to narcotics or vice. If the mood should so strike me I will bust you down to traffic."

Andy was too stunned to say anything as Taylor kept going. "Now I admit that I may not have always been Team Raydor, but she's grown on me these past few years. Do you know why, Andy?"

Without waiting for Flynn to respond, Taylor elaborated.

"You can't argue with results and Raydor, she gets results. Since Raydor has taken over, this division has seen an increase in convictions, a decrease in excessive force complaints and the number of lawsuits against members of your division have_ plummeted_.

"She's efficient. She works well with others. _She makes others work well with others."_ Taylor said it like it was the most incredible thing in the world.

"She fills out her paperwork. _On time. _ And correctly. _The first time."_

Andy just listened as Taylor continued to extoll Sharon's virtues.

"Most importantly, since Raydor has taken over there have been times where I have gone an entire week without getting a complaint about the Major Crimes division. I am not my predecessor. I do not enjoy drama. I like being able to delegate. I like being able to be hands off. I do not enjoy running around solving problems that _my own people _have created. If I wanted to spend my days running around putting out fires - I would have been a fireman!"

His voice full of wonder, Taylor added. "She's even managed to turn class clown and perpetual screw up Provenza into some kind of elder statesman. When did people start going to Provenza for advice?

_ "And all this without a single class action lawsuit."_

Seemingly winding down, Taylor finally managed to find some fault in Sharon's performance. "Overtime is still just as much off the charts as it always has been, but I guess I don't get to have everything."

Sticking his finger practically in Flynn's face, Taylor warned him. "You don't get to have everything either!"

_ "We're not sleeping together." _Andy insisted.

Taylor frowned. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm trying to be your friend here, Andy. I know you. I've known you for a long time. I know your history. I know your track record with women and it is not pretty. I also know that you are good at this job. It is the _only thing_ that you have _ever _been good at. I don't want to see you lose that, Andy."

Flustered at having the awkward conversation about what Sharon's divorce meant for his relationship with her with Taylor of all people – an awkward conversation that he had yet to even have with Sharon – Flynn just repeated himself. "_We are not sleeping together."_

"I believe you. I really do." Taylor rewarded him with the briefest of fake smiles before again turning grim. "Keep it that way because while what you two are _not _doing may not be strictly against the rules, you best think long and hard before you decide to actually do it.

"Because to be perfectly clear here, Andy..." Taylor repeated himself for emphasis. "... just to make sure you and I are on the _exact same_ _page _… when _you_ screw up and things turn awkward and the two of you can't manage to work together anymore _you_ will find yourself out on your ass not just personally, but professionally as well because Sharon - "

Taylor waved his hand back in the direction that they had come from. "-Sharon is the golden goose. And you ... you, Andy ..."

Taylor laid one hand on Andy's shoulder in what Andy supposed was intended to be a supportive gesture. "... You - you're just something that the goose shat out. And Andy ... "

As Taylor used his free hand to gesture in front of them with a flourish, Andy realized that in their walking they had arrived at the door outside robbery homicide's bullpen.

"... I've got a dozen more just like you waiting in the wings to take your place."

As Taylor walked away, Andy didn't bother to follow.

_tbc_


	3. Chapter 3-4

_Chapter 3_

Returning to his desk, not quite believing it, but not having any better ideas, Andy asked his partner. "Did you rat me out to Taylor?"

Provenza looked appropriately affronted. "I wouldn't tell Taylor his ass was on fire if his ass was on fire."

A moment later, his curiosity getting the best of him, Provenza asked for a little clarification. "What exactly did I _not_ rat you out about?"

"Someone told Taylor that I've been having dinners with Sharon." Flynn believed him but … "If it wasn't you, then who?"

"You know it wasn't me or anybody else on the team."

"Maybe the kid let it slip. By accident." Andy suggested halfheartedly.

Provenza shot that idea right down. "_Right_. Because Rusty is so open and carefree. He's such an over-sharer. He's not at all cautious about what he says or who he says it to."

After a moment's consideration, Provenza offered an alternative. "Could Taylor have found out by accident? Been at the same restaurant as you two?"

Andy shook his head. "That wasn't the impression I got. Someone said something to him."

Flynn and Provenza glanced around the room. It took a minute but their collective gaze settled on the same person.

"No way." Andy objected.

With a shrug, Provenza reasoned. "Who else could it have been? She does love rules and once a rat always a rat."

"No way." Andy again disagreed, though this time less vehemently.

_tbc_


	4. Chapter 4-4

A/N Shame on those of you who doubted Provenza's detective skills! Thanks for reading. Reviews greatly appreciated!

_Chapter 4_

Andy gave a perfunctory knock on the open door to Sharon's office before entering and closing it. Sharon glanced up only long enough to give him a slight smile before returning her attention to the form she was reading.

Wanting her full attention, Andy waited until she had finished reading and signing the paper before asking. "Did you … did you tell Chief Taylor that we've been having dinners together?"

Putting the freshly signed form into a file folder, she readily admitted it. "I did."

"Why?"

She said it like it was the most obvious thing. "Because we have been."

Flynn's brow furrowed. He wasn't angry – just confused. "And that's Taylor's business how?"

Before answering, Sharon reached for her coffee cup. Still standing, with his height advantage Flynn could see that her cup was not only empty, but it had been scoured clean. Still, she used both hands to secure it.

"Department policy regarding fraternization doesn't preclude officers – even commanding officers and their subordinates – from spending time together outside of working hours but policy does require certain types of relationships to be disclosed to a superior officer within 48 hours of their commencement."

Andy blinked.

Sex.

They were talking about sex.

Andy had noted a few times during investigations that Sharon could be a bit reticent talking openly about sex so Andy continued to use the rather long euphemism that she was employing.

"The kind of relationship that regulations would require the disclosure of – we don't have that kind of relationship."

"No. No we don't." As she continued, her grip on the coffee cup tightened. "And while I was married there wouldn't have been any misconceptions about that -"

Andy was pretty sure that Sharon was the only one for whom that made any distinction, but he wasn't about to interrupt her to point that out.

"- but now that I am divorced it occurred to me that from the outside, to an independent observer, our dinners could be misconstrued. I wanted to get out ahead of that."

Still not quite following where this was all going, Flynn's brow furrowed deeper.

"So I informed Chief Taylor that we were not engaged in the kind of relationship that needed to be disclosed..."

As she paused, Andy started to object. "Why -"

"...but that if that were to change we would report it within the requisite 48 hour window as required by department policy."

"Oh." Andy paused.

His brow smoothed and he smiled widely as he finally caught on. In an entirely different tone, Andy continued. "Well ... that makes perfect sense."

His response seemed to reassure her. Sharon finally relaxed her death grip on the cup and rewarded him with a slightly shy smile of her own.

Neither quite knowing what to say, there passed between them a moment of only slightly awkward silence before the ringing of her phone interrupted them.

Excusing himself from the room to let her answer, on the way out Andy confirmed their already made plans for the evening. "So I'll see you tonight. For dinner."

Sharon nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

"What are you grinning for?" Provenza asked as Flynn again returned to his desk.

Refraining from revealing that Sharon had essentially just gotten Taylor to have the awkward 'what their personal relationship might mean for their professional relationship' talk with him so that she didn't have to, Andy just shrugged and continued to smile. "No reason."

"Ah huh." Provenza agreed disbelievingly. "Well stop it. You look like an idiot."

_finis_


End file.
